The Waitress
by ai kanda
Summary: Aya was just running an errand that morning - picking up some ingredients for her grandmother. Did it go smoothly? No. First she was attacked by a rabid cat, then run over by an overly enthusiastic boy, and then she witnessed one of the most dazzling smiles she'd ever seen in her life. So much for a quick run to the market...
1. Cats, ninja, and blonde haired men

_Thoughts are in Italics _

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, only Aya

Aya walked through the markets looking for the ingredients her grandmother's restaurant was running short on. It had been unexpectedly busy yesterday night, with the fall festival, and their next shipment of food wasn't due for another week. So her grandmother had made Aya make a quick run for the essentials. Truthfully assisting at her grandmother's restaurant wasn't her primary occupation, but after _that _mission, Aya had asked the Hokage to be taken off active duty of an indefinite amount of time, until either she decided to resume her work as a ninja, or the Hokage deemed it necessary. Aya wasn't in any way inexperienced as an 18 chunnin. But _that _mission had shaken her, losing her best friend, Kumiko had taken its toll. But that was a year ago, and Aya was slowly moving on, and beginning to realise that civilian life wasn't so bad.

She was just about finished with the groceries, now all she needed to do was lug these all back to her grandma's restaurant. Aya sighed, this much weight would have been nothing for her a year ago, but she'd lost so much muscle mass that she was essentially a civilian now, not that that was bad, it just felt weird to her. After so many years of: eat, sleep, train, mission. The simplicity of civilian life felt foreign. She glanced up at the sky and sighed. _I better get going or else grandma will throw a tantrum. _

She started to head down the street, stopping every few minutes to adjust her bags. Honestly, Aya thought she had better reflexes from her time as a ninja, but clearly not, because she failed to notice an extremely anxious cat barrelling out of the alleyway as she passed. _Shit_. The cat jumped at her just before latching onto her shoulder, followed by two extremely enthusiastic genins._ What the hell! _Aya thought as she tumbled over, bags and all.

When the two kids eventually got off of her, she got a better look at them. The one clutching the cat, that was desperately trying to get away, had black hair, and goggles, whilst the one scolding him was a young girl, with markings on her face. They didn't look to be over 13 years old.

"Obito! You can't just barrel into other people like that! Its rude!" The young girl yelled at her teammate.

"I know! But I got the cat didn't I! And we've been after it for two days now, I wasn't about to let it get away!" The boy, who's name Aya had figured to be Obito, yelled indignantly.

Aya watched on in mild fascination, are these the missions gennins got these days? _My god no wonder he didn't care whether he knocked me over or not._

"I'm very sorry, for my team, Miss," Aya turned around to who spoke, and found herself looking up half a foot, to a jonnin, with unmistakeable bright yellow hair, _Konoha's yellow flash, so this is his team._

Of course Aya had never met him personally, but he was Konoha's Yellow Flash, who hadn't heard of him?

"Obito! Apologise!" He yelled at his student

"Ah, sorry miss, I didn't mean too…well I did mean too, but I had too, cause ya'know the cat and all. But like I didn't want to accidentally push you over. I suppose it wasn't all that accidental. But I didn't mean to cause you harm! But then again I suppose –"

"Obito, shut up!" The girl yelled again, whacking him in the head

The yellow flash sighed and rubbed his head.

"How about I help you with these," pointing to her bags, "while my students go complete their mission?"

"Ah, okay…" Aya said still in a bit of a daze from the events of the morning

"Obito, Rin! Go report to the Hokage and return the cat…And while you're at it go find where Kakashi is."

"Yes sir!" They said simultaneously as they vanished

"Sorry about that again," he said as he bent down to help her pick up her bags, "They get a bit enthusiastic sometimes." He laughed

"My name's Minato by the way," he smiled dazzlingly.

"I'm Aya," she said as she smiled back, she had a feeling that maybe civilian life was going to get a bit more interesting from here on out.


	2. Energetic 90 Year Old Grandmas

_Aya's thoughts _

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, only Aya and her grandma**

**Note: As you can see this is my first story, reviews are ****greatly**** appreciated, criticism or praise I really don't mind. ****And the chapters will be relatively small (like really small – less than 1000 words) for the next 17 days until my exams end and I have 4 months break. I can't wait! Enjoy **

**Chapter 2**

Aya reached her grandmother's restaurant much faster, with Minato's help.

"Is this where you work?" He turned slightly to face her.

"Yeah, my grandma owns it but I help run it now, she's starting to get to old now to be here every day," Aya replied.

"That's a shame." He turned back towards the entrance.

"Aya! Where have you been?!" _Oh hell, here we go again._

"You've taken so long that I've had to turn away three customers, what have you been doing!" Her grandmother hobbled out of the entrance, scaring a few customers on the way there. She turn to fix her glare on Aya, who now wished she hadn't had help with the bags, then at least they would shield her from her grandmother's wrath.

"Umm excuse me ma'am," Minato said from behind Aya, a look of surprise dawned on Aya's grandma's face, which was quickly covered by a smile that was slightly too wide.

"I apologize for keeping your granddaughter, my team-"

"Oh! That's quite alright, I don't mind, here let me take those from you," She quickly hurried over and stole the bags depositing them on the counter just inside the restaurant.

"But, grandma-"

"Its fine Aya, why don't you two go take a walk, it's nearly lunchtime, I hear that new ramen place near the academy is good, go on," She quickly hurried them out the door, before speedily retreating inside and slamming the front door of the restaurant, leaving a few customers standing outside looking extremely confused.

_I should have remembered the weird obsession with setting me up she's had these past few weeks, that and her strange fixation on blonde haired men. This is awkward…_

"Ah sorry about that, grandma can get a bit overly enthusiastic sometimes," she looked over at Minato, who was now looking back at the closed door with a red tint to his cheeks.

"Ah its okay, umm, why don't we follow her lead?" He laughed and awkwardly scratched his head, "I've been to the ramen place and its pretty good."

_This day just keeps getting weirder._

"So Aya, have you always worked at your grandma's restaurant?" Minato asked her as they walked toward the new ramen stand.

"Ah no…I used to be a chunnin, until about a year ago…" I told him hesitantly.

I glanced down at the ground. _I hope he doesn't push for details; I really don't want to talk about that mission any more than I have to, and informing the Hokage was enough for me._

"Oh, I thought I'd seen you before," he laughed awkwardly again, "Why did you quit?"

She looked down at the ground again, hunching her shoulders, "I'd rather not talk about it…these days I mostly just help my grandma with the restaurant and work at the hospital."

"The hospital? Are you a medical ninja by any chance?!" Minato quickly turned to me, surprised.

"Ah, yeah, I was." _Why is he so…so happy…I'm really confused._

"Ah, sorry, its just one of my students, has a bit of an affinity for medical ninjutsu, and I've been looking for someone to train her, but most of you are in short supply right now, unfortunately." He gave me a pleading look that had a striking resemblance to my childhood puppy. His name was Nixon.

"Would you please consider training her?" He asked with his puppy face still in place. "You won't have to go on any missions, even once a week is enough. Rin works really hard on her own, but she does need help."

Aya sighed, _I seem to be doing a lot of that these days, I suppose I could help her, its not like I'm overly busy or …Kumiko. Well, I have to move on at some point, and with the escalating international tensions, I should probably start sooner rather than later. _

"Sure, why not," I looked up at Minato and gave him a small smile.

"Really! Thank you so much!" His puppy face vanished and he gave me one of his dazzling smiles.

"I'll tell her later today, and we can sort something out," he said smiling as we reached the ramen stand.

Aya couldn't help but smile just a bit more at the enthusiastic man. _Maybe moving on will be easier than I thought. _


	3. An Elderly Interrogation

**Chapter 3**

After they ate their ramen, Minato was called away by the Hokage, something about how _all _members of a team had to participate in a mission.

_They did mention another kid named Kakashi, back with the cat… _

Minato informed her that he'd come by the hospital to speak to her about Rin's training later. So that left Aya wandering the village, reluctant to go back to her grandma and the inevitable interrogation that would follow.

Aya stopped out side her grandma's restaurant, trying to think up an excuse to get out of work for the rest of the day so she could avoid her grandma. She sighed. _I might as well just get it over with, God knows she'll come and hunt me down if I don't show up. _

Just as Aya thought, when she entered the restaurant her grandma was sitting there waiting.

"Aya! You didn't tell me you had such an attractive boyfriend!" Her grandma yelled at her indignantly as she got up from behind the front desk.

"He's not my boyfriend! I just met-" Aya said waving her hands in front of her to try and dissuade her grandma.

"Oh don't be shy, Aya, you should bring him round for dinner one day, it would be so nice to get to know him, I'm just disappointed that you didn't tell me! Am I so old as to not know about your love life?!" Her grandma started to dramatically sob; "I just really wish you'd confide in me every now and again."

"But grandma-"

"Oh, but if you ever need advice with men, Aya, I was a great beauty in my days, I know how to handle them."

"Grandma…" _I did not need to know that…_

"Anyway, if you ever need time off to see your new boyfriend, just let me know, its _absolutely_ fine," she said smiling wide as she hurried Aya into the bathrooms to get changed for work.

"Oh, and you have wonderful taste in men, he has beautiful hair my dear girl," her grandma said as she closed the bathroom door, leaving Aya standing in the middle of the bathrooms.

"Grandma! You can't just go on about my love life in front of all the customers!" Aya yelled indignantly, as she heard her grandma's distinct laughter outside the door.

Aya heard a knock on her office door at the hospital the next day just as she was getting ready to finish her shift.

"Come in!"

"Ah hi, Aya," Minato said has he walked in and silently shut the door behind him.

"I just came to talk to you about Rin's training. Oh and sorry I had to leave early yesterday at Ichiraku's, I had to sort out something with the Hokage." Minato said as he gave her a tight smile.

"That's fine, you can sit down in you like," Aya said as she got out her calendar, "My days off are usually on Tuesdays and Sundays, but I can probably get Wednesday off as well to train Rin if that works, the restaurant isn't very busy on Wednesdays anyway."

"Yeah, that's fine," Minato gave her one of his dazzling smiles.

"Okay guess I'll see you tomorrow then. Where do you usually meet, by the way?" Aya looked up him as she walked around her desk.

"Training ground 3 at 9am, Rin's always on time unlike some other members of our team…" He awkwardly smiled. _He's cute when he has that awkward smile…Great now I'm starting to sound like grandma…Next I'll start fantasizing about his hair…_Aya thought as they walked out of her office.

"I'll walk you home if you like." He smiled again. _Does he ever not smile, or is that just me?_

"No its fine, my house is on the other side of the village, it'd probably be too far out of your way," she said as she glanced up at him.

"No, it's okay, besides you're good company," Minato said smiling again, "but I mean if you don't, um, like me, then I can go. As company that is! Not that it means that you like me if you let me walk you, like just as friends. I mean we don't always have to be friends," Aya gave him a weird look, "Not like that! I'm not going to de-friend you or anything, once you're friends with someone you stay friends with them, I guess. But um, I mean unless you like them more but um, that doesn't mean…" He awkwardly scratched his head, trying to hide his blush.

"I'm digging my own grave here aren't I?"

"Ah yeah, just a bit, Minato," Aya looked at his blush, holding back her smile and trying not to laugh. _I think I'm going to need that advice grandma offered…_

They'd been talking casually, until halfway through their walk, Minato asked the last question she wanted to hear.

"I'm just curious Aya, whose team were you on before you quit?" Minato glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

Aya looked down at the ground, trying to avoid his gaze, "I was on a team with Hirako Hyuga, Azashi Ryuga, and my cousin, Kimiko Tamai…" She trailed off trying to hold back her emotions.

Minato's eye's widened, and a look of pity covered his face, he had heard vaguely what had happen during that mission, Lord Hokage had spared many details, most likely to ease Aya's pain, and keep the mission private. But he knew the basic outcome.

Aya looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder, Minato in sympathy at her, "if you ever want to talk to someone, Aya, I'll listen." Minato said. Aya smiled back, "Thanks."

They eventually reached Aya's house where she lived with her grandma.

"Thank you for walking me home, Minato," Aya said as she waved goodbye.

"You're welcome, I'll see you tomorrow at 9am!" Minato smiled and waved back as he jumped up onto the roof and went home.

_Oh hell, I hope grandma didn't notice Minato walking me home, otherwise she'll feel the need to interrogate me again…_

"Aya! Why didn't you bring that wonderful young man in?" Her grandma yelled out as Aya walked in the front door, "You know I wouldn't mind any man with hair like that coming over for dinner!"

Aya sighed exasperatedly. _Why is she so obsessed with Minato's hair!_


	4. 14 Minutes

**_AN: SO, I'm not sure what to do about Kushina, I don't want to be like 'she doesn't exist just my convenience' or 'she magically turned out to be a horrible person' I have an idea in mind, but its pretty sad and depressing, so if anyone has any ideas please let me know! _**

**_If anyone finds any errors please let me know, cause I'm a nutcase about grammar _**

**_THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS! :)_**

_Aya's t__houghts are in italics_

**Disclaimer: I don;t own any of these characters, only Aya and her grandma**

**Chapter 4 **

Aya walked up to her room closing the door, attempting to dodge her grandma's questions regarding Minato's hair. _She never stops, my god…_

She lay down on her bed, and caught a glimpse of a photo frame she'd hidden behind her curtains, because she didn't have the heart to pack it away like everything else that reminded Aya of her team. If she put it away she felt like she was giving up, trying to hide the pain and the memories and not deal with them.

_I wish they were still here. I need Kimiko. I need my sensei. I need my team. _

Aya felt her eyes start to water as she stared up at her celling. She got up and walked over to the windowsill, pulling the photo frame out from behind the curtains. There were four faces staring up at her. Kimiko with her shy, cute smile. Hirako with his neutral expression, though still friendlier looking than most Hyugas she'd met. Azashi-sensei with his goofy grin. And herself, looking so foreign now with her wide, innocent smile. She stood in the middle, with her arms wrapped around her two other teammates with one hand held up showing a peace sign.

_What happened to me? _Aya started to feel the tears coming. _How did I end up here? Why couldn't I save them? _

Azashi-sensei had died on a solo mission, without them. When the Hokage had told them, Aya had never felt more useless in her life. _Why couldn't I save him? I'm the medic, that's my job: to look after my teammates. _Those were her initial thoughts, but Aya never blamed herself, but then Kimiko and Hirako had died two months later. That time she could've save them. She should've saved them. But she didn't. Aya failed.

"_Aya don't worry about me, save Kimiko, please…I'll be fine, just save Kimiko…" Hirako had said. _

"_This is the most important rule you will learn as a medic: if you have two patients in critical condition, you save the one most likely to survive first…" Her trainer had said. _

"_Its okay Aya, even if I'm gone, you'll make new friends, you'll find someone who loves you…" Kimiko had said as she faded. _

_Aya had sat there in shock for 30 seconds next her dead cousin, before going to Hirako, not 10 feet away, only to find that the poison had finally taken effect. She found him lying against a tree. Dead. She ran back to Kimiko, who was lying on the ground with faded eyes as she looked up at the sky. They were barely 10km away from the village. _

_Aya didn't know what to do. She didn't scream. She didn't yell. She didn't leave. She just sat there next to her dead cousin, whose wounds had been far beyond saving even with medical treatment. Hirako only had a slow poison in his system from a few minor cuts. If she'd followed her training, she could've saved him. But Hirako loved Kimiko; he'd always loved her. And so he begged Aya, "save Kimiko…" _

_And that was how the Anbu found her, sitting there, with her two dead teammates. She had little memory of how she got back to the village. She'd fainted or been knocked out at some point she couldn't tell. She woke up in the hospital three days later. Then reality set in. _

Aya moved back to her bed, the tears flowing freely now. She didn't bother changing. She lay down and cried herself to sleep.

Aya woke up the next morning clutching the photo frame. She glanced at it one last time before hiding it behind her curtains again. She checked the clock, seeing that it was 8:10am. She rushed into the shower grabbing some training clothes. Fifteen minutes later she emerged, running down the stairs, finding her grandma making breakfast already.

"Good morning Aya, when does your shift start," her grandma asked looking over at Aya while she stirred a pot.

"I'm not working at the hospital today, I agreed to train one of Minato's students in medical ninjutsu," Aya replied not looking up from the bookcase in the living room, glancing across all the anatomy books.

"Ahh really!" Her grandma's face lit up at the thought, "I'll make a few extra bentos then!"

"No grandma! Please don't!" Aya glanced at her annoyingly

"Ohh okay, its best not to look too eager," her grandma nodded pensively, "I'm sure Minato will come after you eventually anyway"

"Grandma! No one is coming after me!" Aya said as she grabbed her breakfast off the counter and started to eat.

"Keep telling yourself that Aya, you'll wished you asked for my advice earlier when they do," her grandma replied stubbornly.

Aya sighed, _if she's like this when a man walks me home, imagine what she'd be like if I actually had a boyfriend…She'd probably scar me for life with all the stories of her 'great beauty…'_

"I'm leaving grandma I'll stop by the restaurant later after training," Aya yelled as she grabbed the bag of medical texts for Rin.

"I won't allow you in if you don't bring Minato and his hair!" Her grandma yelled as Aya closed the door. _Why is she so obsessed with his hair…maybe that should be my new goal, to find out the story behind her obsession with Minato's hair…_

Aya walked to training ground 3 and found Minato, Rin, and the kid that must be Kakashi waiting. _Its already 9:15am, where is Obito? I thought I was late…after grandma's antics._

"Aya! Morning!" Minato waved with his sparkling smile. _Seriously, what teeth whitener does he use, I want to know, cause it works…_

"Aya-sensei, good morning," Rin said shyly, glancing over at Kakashi as she did so. _Hmm, I see a little crush going on here. Interesting… _

Kakashi glances warily up at Aya, as Rin greets her.

"So you're Rin's new sensei," he says condescendingly, "How can you be a sensei, if you're not on active duty, you're barely even a ninja," Aya raises her eyebrows. _And I also see that Rin has horrible taste in men…I can teach her medical ninjutsu, but I'm not sure I can improve her taste in men…Well, looking on the bright side…As grandma would say 'at least Kakashi has good hair…'_

"Kakashi!" Minato reprimands, "You should show Aya-sensei some respect!" Kakashi turns away and moves toward the targets set up on the other side of the training ground, ignoring them.

"Its okay," Aya gives them a tight smile, "I'm a bit used to it now."

"Okay well, you two can get started if you want," Minato sighs, "Obito probably won't arrive for another 30 minutes," he laughs awkwardly while Kakashi scowls at him from across the training field.

Aya leads Rin to the stream running through the training ground, hoping not to disturb the boys' training.

"Okay first off, I want you to read these," she says as she pulls various books out of her bag, "I've skipped the more basic ones, since I assume you've read them if you already know some medical ninjutsu, these are mostly about the functioning of specific organs as well as specific procedures related to poisons and well…mostly injuries related to weapons like senbon and kunai for example. Read them, and tell me when you've finished them, there's no rush. I want you to read them thoroughly, especially the procedures."

"Okay Aya-sensei," Rin takes the books from her.

"Has Minato taught you how to climb trees yet?"

"Yep, we've all mastered it."

"Has he taught you the walking on water technique then?"

"Ah no…" Rin replies looking confused.

"Okay, that's what we'll do today, its similar to climbing trees in that it assists your chakra control which has to be perfect for medical ninjutsu," Aya tells her, while demonstrating by walking on the stream.

"Yes Aya-sensei."

Four hours later, Rin has nearly mastered the technique, with Aya watching on silently as Rin tries to stay on top of the water for more than 15 minutes. _She's got quite good chakra control for a genin, Minato was right all she needed was a teacher…Her record last time was about 9 minutes above the water, if she can reach fifteen then we'll be done for the day and she'll just have to continue to practice it on her own._

"WOW Rin that's so awesome!" Obito suddenly yells from behind them, startling Rin causing her to fall into the stream with a splash.

"Obito! I was concentrating!" She yells annoyed.

"But still, me and Kakashi can't even do that! Minato-sensei can we learn to walk on water too? Please!"

Aya watches Kakashi sigh and begin to walk away from the training ground.

"Kakashi! Where are you going?" Rin asks him as he scowls at Obito as he walks away.

"Lunch."

"Wait I'll come with you," Rin runs after Kakashi while Obito continues to berate Minato for not teaching them how to walk on water.

"Wait, lunch? I want lunch! I'm coming too! Rin wait a second!" Obito yells running after Rin, leaving her and Minato standing in the middle of the training ground.

_Well she reached 14 minutes, I guess…_


End file.
